Kays Translations
Just another Isekai Lover~
Chapter 380: Cooperation and Cultivation
With Zion now formally joining them, Tauro’s party used Ragune’s [Dimensional Corridor] and Tauro’s [Spatial Transfer] to return to their rooms at the inn in Caxart.
“Let’s choose a suitable quest at the Adventurers’ Guild today,” Tauro suggested. “Working together will help us learn how to cooperate as a four-person team.”
Everyone agreed. Zion was particularly eager to prove her usefulness.
When they descended to the inn’s first floor, the proprietor was speaking with the chef.
“Welcome back, Lord Tauro. Your timing is excellent. Our chef has something he desperately wishes to discuss with you.”
Tauro already knew the chef well; they had prepared Flaming Crab dishes together after the earlier subjugation.
“What’s the problem?”
“I want to make those crab dishes the signature food of this inn,” the chef said. “Will you help me?”
“That’s an excellent idea!” Ragune and Ankh exclaimed before Tauro could answer.
Zion, who had never tasted the dishes, looked between them in confusion.
“I’m willing to cooperate,” Tauro said. “What assistance do you need?”
“A stable supply of Flaming Crabs. I spoke to the Adventurers’ Guild, but they said your team led the extermination and reduced the population so severely that regular deliveries will soon become impossible.”
The chef had nowhere else to turn.
“We hunted them with the intention of eliminating the outbreak completely,” Tauro admitted. “Maintaining a supply afterward will be difficult.”
“Please think of something!”
The chef clasped both hands and bowed to the thirteen-year-old adventurer.
Tauro considered the Flaming Crab’s biology.
“Their greatest danger is the fireball attack from the oversized left claw. Their reproduction is also extremely rapid. If mature specimens had the left claw removed and the wound treated so that the claw couldn’t regrow, their danger should fall considerably.”
He paused, then reached an unusual conclusion.
“What if we raised them in captivity?”
“Raised… monsters?”
Everyone stared at him.
Monster husbandry was almost unheard of, and few people would have considered farming the very creatures that had recently devastated Caxart.
“If it succeeds, Flaming Crab cuisine could become a specialty not only of this inn but of the entire city,” Tauro continued. “I should discuss the plan with my father—the lord. He’s still staying at the mayor’s residence.”
“The lord?”
Only then did the chef realize that a request about an inn menu had grown into a territorial development proposal.
“Can we visit him before going to the guild?” Tauro asked his companions.
“Of course,” Ragune and Ankh answered.
“Can people truly meet the lord so easily?” Zion asked.
To Zion, Tauro was an extraordinary adventurer, but still apparently only a boy. She couldn’t imagine a territorial lord granting an immediate audience.
Nevertheless, they were admitted to the mayor’s residence almost at once.
Zion had entered the building many times while carrying Gray Vultures’ equipment, but never expected to be welcomed into its reception room.
“Zion, don’t repeat anything private that you hear here,” Ankh warned.
She swallowed nervously.
Count Graunewald soon entered.
“Tauro, I heard that you left Caxart for several days.”
Zion stared as the count addressed Tauro with open familiarity.
“We went to the Dragonfolk Village to collect our new companion, Zion.”
Her posture stiffened when the conversation turned toward her.
“Is that the boy you mentioned?”
“I was mistaken, Father. Zion is a girl.”
“So she is!” Count Graunewald laughed. “Since you repeatedly called her a boy, I naturally believed you.”
Zion’s confusion deepened.
How does the count know about me? Why is Tauro-sama speaking to the lord like this?
Ragune and Ankh watched with amused smiles, as though nothing were unusual.
“Leader, Zion is becoming increasingly bewildered,” Ankh said. “You should explain.”
“Sorry. Zion, Count Graunewald is my father. I was adopted into his family.”
“There’s no need to qualify it every time,” Count Graunewald said. “I’m his father. Zion, please continue to support my son as his friend.”
He inclined his head politely.
“N-No! Tauro-sama is the one who has helped me. It’s an honor to meet you, my lord!”
Unable to organize the flood of new information, Zion bowed in a panic.